Aarakshan (2011)

A decision by India's supreme court tests a man's friendships and loyalty.

Director:

Prakash Jha

Writers:

Prakash Jha, Anjum Rajabali

Stars:

Amitabh Bachchan, Saif Ali Khan, Manoj Bajpayee

5 wins & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Amitabh Bachchan	...	Prabhakar Anand
Saif Ali Khan	...	Deepak Kumar
Manoj Bajpayee	...	Mithilesh Singh (as Manoj Bajpai)
Deepika Padukone	...	Poorvi
Prateik	...	Sushant Seth
Tanvi Azmi	...	Kavita P. Anand
Saurabh Shukla	...	Mantri Baburao
Darshan Jariwala	...	Anirudh Chaudhary
Yashpal Sharma	...	Shambhu Yadav
Mukesh Tiwari	...	Police Inspector
Rajeev Verma	...	Damodar
S.M. Zaheer	...	Retired Professor
Chetan Pandit
Vinay Apte	...	Neta Bhishamber
Anita Kanwar	...	Mrs. Kantaprasad

Storyline

Following the Mandal Commission report and the Supreme Court of India's decision to maintain a 27 percent reservation for Dalits and lower/backward castes, right-winged political parties organize protests. The Principal of Shakuntala Thakral Mahavidyalal, a non-government college which is exempt from this mandate, gets in the limelight when it's Principal, Prabhakar Anand, endorses the decision - much to the ire of the trustees as well as the newly appointed Vice-Principal Mithilesh Singh, who has invested Rs.1200 Crores in private coaching classes. Prabhakar refuses to change his stand and ends up tendering his resignation, taking his family, consisting of his wife, Kavita and daughter, Poorbi, to live near Shambhu Yadav's Tabela after they find their family home being taken over by Mithilesh's coaching classes. Attempts to evict Mithilesh's staff will be in vain and will not only end up alienating the family from everyone but Prabhakar will also be summoned and possibly arrested for...

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Plot Keywords:

principal | india | caste | reservation | funeral pyre | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi English

Release Date:

12 August 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

Бронирование

Filming Locations:

Upper Lake, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$342,801, 14 August 2011, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$342,801, 14 August 2011

Company Credits

Production Co:

Base Industries Group,Prakash Jha Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

164 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Whilst shooting in the heat, the cast/crew member used to bring an umbrella over Amitabh Bachchan. He would move away from the shade of the umbrella, and when he was asked why he didn't want to come under the shade from the blistering heat, Bachchan replied he didn't want to get used to such things whilst working.

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Goofs

1:38:19 Deepak calls Purvi from the USA but the number displayed on Purvi's mobile shows the incoming call starts with +91 as country code which is the number for India. Even presuming it is roaming, the call also has 22 which is the area code for Mumbai landlines while Deepak is calling from a cell phone .

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Quotes

Prabhakar Anand: Q.E.D. stands for "Quite Easily Done."

User Reviews

Aarakshan is not at all about aarakshan

First things first, Aarakshan is not at all about aarakshan (reservation). Prakash Jha's latest directorial venture has managed to create a lot of hullabaloo because of its title and expected storyline. But none of these seem to reflect in the film. Barring a scene or two, the film boldly deals with the commercialization of education and how a principle educationist stands tall with the changing times. The opening half of the film fails to generate any interest and the screenplay very poor. It picks up only at a later stage which gives a feeling that the movie is forcefully dragged for a prolonged duration. The story is of Prabhakar Anand (Amitabh) who is the principal of a private charity institution and how Mithilesh Singh (Manoj), the vice principal neglects college duties because he runs a private coaching class charging a lot of money from the students. The story then takes a typical Bollywood turn with the politicians and police playing dirty and everything turns against Prabhakar. But then he hits upon a plan to give free education to everyone, and becomes a hero again. Talking about performances, the biggest disappointment was Deepika Padukone. Her Hindi still needs a lot of work. Saif Ali Khan was completely wasted in the film, but Prateik's repeated portrayal of a spoilt brat turned good will give the audience something to cheer on. Stalwarts like Amitabh, Manoj and Vinay fit their roles perfectly and do a brilliant justice to the script. After Rajneeti, Manoj seems to have got the cue as to what kind of role suits him most. The dialogues of the film were crisp and interesting, which held the movie together. The editing could have been a lot tighter and the 'Green Screen' was clearly noticeable. The running time of the movie is almost 165 minutes and it fails to hold the audience together. Though the story idea was quite thought provoking and engaging, but the fact is that it could have ended a long way before. Bollywood trio Shankar-Ehsan-Loy also failed to click any popular number in the film. The music was decent. Apart from the individual performances of the characters and their conflicts along with some power hitting dialogues, the film isn't impressive at all. The whole idea of reservation was sidelined and a new dig was taken into the Indian education system. Thus, the title is not at all apt. If you do not get a reservation at your favourite restaurant and have no other place to go, then you should think about going to the theatre and munching pop-corns by watching Aarakshan. Or else, Prakash Jha this much-hyped venture can be surely given a miss.